Francis Micallef describing his father’s disappearance off Il-Blata tal-Melħ. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

His father’s last words – “Take care of your brother” – still ring in Francis Micallef’s ears, 50 years after he stood helplessly on a rock looking out at the bellowing sea that had just engulfed his father, Carmel.

“I could not utter a word and wanted to jump in after him.

“The trauma affects my speech to this day,” the 75-year-old told Times of Malta ahead of the 50th anniversary of his father’s disappearance.

The father of nine was never found, and it still weighs heavy on his son’s heart that the family, known as Ta’ Dejnier, is not in possession of a death certificate.

The Times of Malta reported on December 11, 1967, that the previous morning, a wave had swept 56-year-old Carmel Micallef, of Rabat, into the sea.

The police searched the coastline in the area to no avail.

Mr Micallef had been fishing with two of his sons – Tony, aged nine, and Francis, then 25.

Francis had helped unravel the konz tal-lampuki (surface fishing line) the previous day but was reluctant to join his father because of the strong, probably south-westerly, winds on that tragic Sunday morning.

“He was a quiet, gentle but stubborn man, so I knew he would still go fishing after promising my brother,” he recounted.

His father, a carpenter by trade, had not been fishing with the konz for some 10 years. On that fateful day, they headed to the Blata tal-Melħ, beneath Baħrija, just where two young men went missing earlier this year.

Nick Johnson, 21, and Mark Petric, 19, were found alive more than two days later by a fisherman, who alerted the police, having spotted the two calling for help from between the rocks.

Fifty years ago, the Micallefs were in the area pulling the konz in when the strong waves swept the line towards the cliffs. They moved along the shore as they pulled it out of the sea.

I felt like I was going mad. I went mute and I still stammer to this day

Francis crouched down in a hole behind his standing father, coiling the fishing line in a wicker basket. They were standing in an area known as Ingiegeż (because of the pointy rocks), situated some six metres above the sea.

His brother was playing with a couple of paper boats in the salt pans further back.

“We had only been there for about five minutes when my father suddenly disappeared. He was taken away by a large wave. My brother started wailing, and I didn’t know what to do.

“In 1967, there was no means of communication.”

Maria and Carmel Micallef on their wedding day.

Francis could not throw a rope to his father because the waves would just force it back to the shore, and it was too dangerous for his father to swim towards the rocks, as it would have meant instant death.

“His last words were: ‘Take care of your brother’,” Francis said, falling silent.

“I was about to jump in after him. But there was a family friend not far off, the late Pawlu Schembri, who tried to talk me out of it.

“He said: ‘Don’t forget your brother’ as he ran over and hugged me.

“I felt like I was going mad. I went mute and I still stammer to this day,” he recounted, adding that he still recalled the sense of helplessness he felt.

Mr Schembri urged him to accompany him to the police station, where they filed a report. They then headed back to the shore, where they sailed out on a luzzu with a fisherman called Ġanni Ta’ l-Ajru. But when the boat listed dangerously, they headed back to shore.

Francis was interviewed and asked to accompany the police officers to the spot where his father had disappeared, despite being unable to walk properly because he was still in shock.

The following months were difficult for him. The first thing he did was to get rid of the konz.

He eventually started to recover and returned to the Blata tal-Melħ site to dive.